P.O.D. live in Dublin, 04-05-02

When the lights went out after the stage was set up (and once before when they put on Jammin' by Bob Marley) POD got a huge cheer from the packed Ambassador - they started off the show by playing some of the old classics like Hollywood and Southtown (both played excellently), but they fit in plenty of other ones like School of Hard Knocks, Rock the Party, and too many others to mention. They played plenty from the new album, like The Messenjah, Alive, Anything Right, all of which sounded undescribably brilliant! The album doesn't even compare to their live performance!! But probably the most noticible song was definately Youth of the Nation - they had a banner showing all the people who were killed in the American school massacre, God bless their souls. The song itself received the best response from the crowd. Sonny also created a great atmosphere, asking the crowd to move down whenever he crouched, and they obeyed - apart from a couple of people in the front who got told off by Sonny afterwards ;)!!

After they had finished off their set with the 'emotional anthem' Alive, and left the stage, the crowd still wanted more - chants of "POD- We want more!" kept going on for about a minute until the band decided that because this was their first time in Ireland they'd give us a bit of a treat, and finished off for the night with an amazing drum solo by Wuv followed by a great performance of their cover of the U2 song 'Bullet the Blue Sky'.

All the band showed great love for their fans, with Sonny going down right in front of the crowd several times, and some people took the lyrics for "Boom" to heart by taking Sonny's mic and singing some of the lyrics themselves!! Marcos also did some cool things, one time he went up behind Wuv's drum kit which was on a high platform and played his solo from up there!! Traa was pretty quiet during the show, he stayed pretty much glued to his place on front right of the stage. Thats not saying he didn't put a great performance!! Wuv played a brilliant set as well, with a great solo at the end of the concert (already mentioned). After the show, a few people stayed around and got autos from the band. Sonny was especially true to his fans, he being the last member of POD to get on the bus, and that was because the gaurds came out and pushed the fans away, telling us they had to leave. By the time I had got around to the buses (I think they had been around a few minutes before I got there) Wuv and Traa had dissapeared. Sonny, despite looking like he was going to die a few times on the stage, was still outside the bus, a towel covering his dreads. Marcos was in the entrance to the bus, and as I mentioned, the other 2 gone. After the door had closed, people were still outside the doors (me one of them) trying to catch a glimpse of the band as the bus drove away. After a minute or so of seeing a shadow in the bus, a girl out the front told us it was Wuv, and when we started cheering him on, the man himself turned on the light from inside so we could see him as he drove away! That was the end for tonight, but from the looks of the forums at http://bbs.payableondeath.com/cgi-shell/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=1&DaysPrune=1000 and the people I asked afterwards we weren't dissapointed one bit!! It hasn't been a week since the show, and I can't wait for the next one! Come back soon!

-Dave Sheehan